Jayalalithaa appears in Bangalore special court

The trial in the disproportionate assets case involving Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa began in a special court in Bangalore on Thursday afternoon, following her arrival from Chennai.

About 1,000 police personnel have been deployed to provide security for the chief minister, who is under the Z-plus category of VVIPs. Jayalalithaa had avoided being present in the court and had filed a plea seeking exemption in the Supreme Court. Her counsel had said that it would be difficult to ensure high security for her at the Bangalore court.

The apex court, however, turned down her request and ordered that high security be maintained around the court. The special court is located at the Parappanna Agrahara central prison - about 65 km from the city - where former Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa is also currently lodged.

According to a Bangalore police spokesperson, prohibitory orders, banning assembly of five or more persons, has been imposed in a 500-metre radius of the jail complex.

The Tamil Nadu chief minister has to give her statement in the disproportionate assets case, where she has been accused of amassing Rs66 crore between 1991 and 1996, when she was heading the state government. She drew a nominal salary of Re1 a month, but had allegedly accumulated wealth that was disproportionate to her known source of income.

The case was filed in Chennai, but was shifted to Bangalore in 2003, after the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham (DMK) alleged that witnesses were turning hostile after Jayalalithaa became chief minister again in 2001.